Two directors to stay on boards of BoI units

TWO BANK of Ireland directors will remain on the boards of subsidiary and joint venture companies of the bank in the UK after they step down from the main board of the bank later this month.

The directors are standing down as part of the “renewal” of bank boardrooms sought by the Government, and the departure of board members in place since before the financial crisis.

Bank of Ireland non-executive Dennis Holt will retain his €84,000-a-year job as chairman of the bank’s UK subsidiary, despite standing down from the main board of the bank later this month.

Des Crowley, head of the bank’s Irish and UK retail division, who is also standing down from the main board, will stay on as a director at two joint venture companies with the UK Post Office.

The two companies are Post Office Financial Services and First Rate Exchange Services.

He will also remain on as a director of New Ireland Assurance, a subsidiary of the bank.

Mr Holt and Mr Crowley were among five directors of the bank’s court – the bank’s name for its main board – who, the bank said last month, were not seeking re-election at the bank’s annual meeting on June 15th.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has asked all bank directors in place since before the 2008 financial crash to stand down from the boards of the guaranteed banks. Mr Holt and Mr Crowley joined the bank’s court in 2006.

The bank said last month Mr Holt would step down as deputy governor – the bank’s name for deputy chairman – as well as from the court at the annual meeting.

Mr Crowley is one of two executive directors to step down. Denis Donovan, the head of the bank’s capital markets division, is also standing down. Both, however, are retaining their executive roles.

Mr Holt was paid £70,525 for his role as chairman of Bank of Ireland (UK) plc last year, a job he was appointed to in March 2010. The payment was on top of the salary of €126,000 he received as deputy governor.

Mr Crowley was paid €607,000 in 2010, but received no additional fees for sitting on the boards of other Bank of Ireland companies.

Mr Holt and two other non-executive directors – Paul Haran and Heather Ann McSharry – are not seeking re-election at the annual meeting. The five directors are also standing down as part of a reduction in the size of the board, as the number of board members is being decreased from 14 to nine.

In October 2010, Bank of Ireland was the first non-UK bank to receive permission from the UK banking regulator, the Financial Services Authority, to set up a banking business since the crisis.

Bank of Ireland, which is 36 per cent State-owned, requires a further €4.2 billion in cash following the Central Bank’s March stress tests. The capital must be raised before the end of July.